1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to condition responsive indicating systems. More particularly, the invention relates to condition responsive indicating systems that include personal portable devices, to be worn or carried by individuals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The current landscape for monitoring and analyzing data to improve health and safety outcomes shows significant potential for improvement. For example, industrial safety has traditionally focused on three things: (i) providing equipment for physical protection of the worker (e.g., hardhat, shoes, gloves, eye and hearing protection); (ii) training the worker to avoid possible safety incidents (e.g., seminars, certifications, on the job training); and (iii) auditing safety behavior and taking corrective actions. Depending on the underlying industry, some form of interaction/communication between the worker and his/her environment is typically added to the safety equipment (e.g., radio, carbon monoxide monitor).
On average, an entity may expend thousands of dollars per person per year on discrete health and safety equipment and training, which varies depending on industry specific requirements. More recently, industrial safety applications are increasingly using IT systems to improve safety processes as well as tracking safety compliance. Those solutions are either hardware solutions (e.g., PDAs, asset tracking) or software solutions (e.g., certification and compliance tracking, safety management dashboards).
All of the current industrial safety solutions, however, are facing one major issue: once the worker has received his/her equipment and training, the responsibility to comply with the safety standards remains with the worker, depending on many cases on his/her experience and personal foresight on how to behave and react in a certain situation.